Legislative: Partnership or Collaboration: Words Matter

Abstract

Citation: Glazer, G., Alexandre, C., Reid Ponte, P. (March 31, 2008). Legislative: Partnership or Collaboration: Words Matter. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 13 No. 2. Available: www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Legislative/PartnershiporCollaboration.aspx Oft cited components of nursing practice are collaboration and partnership. State nurse practice acts and standards of nursing practice require nurses to collaborate with each other and with other members of the healthcare team. A brief search finds the nursing literature replete with articles extolling the value of both collaboration and partnership with the words collaboration and partnership often used interchangeably. It is our contention that collaboration and partnership are two distinct concepts with collaboration being one component of a true partnership. There is support in the literature for the idea that collaborative partnerships are essential to addressing emerging issues and trends in nursing and healthcare (Boswell & Cannon, 2005). However, without a precise definition of terms we cannot be sure what each party is expecting of the other, making it difficult to identify specific roles, establish goals, and develop outcomes. Having had varying degrees of cooperation in our previous experiences of collaborative partnerships with organizations outside the university, we found it necessary to take a step back and define these two words to clearly identify what we expect from our partners and ourselves before engaging in future partnerships. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.) defined collaboration as working jointly with especially in an intellectual endeavor. This definition implies an informal relationship that does not ensure equality among the parties. Gardner (2005) spoke to this discrepancy noting that within the healthcare system many collaborative relationships exist within a hierarchical structure. Lindeke and Sieckert (2005) acknowledged this inequality when they defined collaboration as a sharing of knowledge between stakeholders with joint responsibility for the outcome. Using the example of a nurse-physician relationship, these authors stressed that it is as important to define what is not implied by collaboration as it is to define what is implied. Their example clarified that the nurse-physician relationship is not a supervisory relationship, but one of mutual respect with the shared goal of quality patient care. The concept of partnership is defined as a legal relationship existing between two or more persons contractually associated as joint principles in a business (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Unlike collaboration, this definition implies a formal, structured relationship between equals with mutually defined objectives and goals. According to Feenstra, Gordon, Hansen, and Zandee (2006) through persistence and flexibility, members of a partnership enjoy close mutual cooperation; share common interests, common responsibilities, and common privileges; have equal power; are allowed equal input into all decisions; and have their needs attended to equally. Unlike informal collaboration, a true partnership must be nurtured and provided all of the time and energy required to maintain a successful relationship. Having been in the situation where we entered a collaborative relationship with another organization without full partnership, we came to understand the importance of clearly defining the language that would establish any future relationships. At the University of Massachusetts Boston College of Nursing and Health Sciences our vision is to improve the health-related quality of life of diverse urban populations through the integration of teaching, targeted research, service, practice, and health policy in partnership with others (College of Nursing and Health Sciences, 2007). An example of a true partnership is the relationship between the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center (DFHCC). …